Utah Parents Forget Their 3-Year-Old Son In Corn Maze, Don’t Realize He’s Missing Until The Next Morning

Two parents from Utah accidentally left their 3-year-old son in a corn maze — then drove home, went to bed, and didn’t realize the toddler was missing until the next morning.

The incident happened in the town of West Jordan, Utahwhere police say the boy got separated from his parents while they were making their way through a corn maze. As KUTV reported, other guests at the Crazy Corn Maze discovered the boy and brought him to some off-duty police officers who were working as security guards.

The discovery of the lost toddler set off a frantic search across the corn maze. Employees working at the Halloween attraction made an announcement about the missing boy, but no one came forward to claim him.

“They had staff out with bullhorns announcing they had a found child, they waited at the gate, but no one showed up for the child,” said West Jordan Police Sgt. Joe Monson (via KSL).

Kendall Schmidt, one of the owners of the corn maze, said employees searched the entire property and even went from car to car looking for the lost boy’s parents. The boy was reportedly afraid and crying, but could not tell police anything other than his age and the name of his brother and his cat.

“It was a stressful night for us, worrying about him and worrying about his family,” Schmidt said (via KSL).

After the search failed to turn up the boy’s parents, police finally called the Utah Division of Child and Family Services, and the boy spent the night with officials.

A family didn't notice until the next morning that they'd left their 3-year-old son at a corn maze in West Jordan. https://t.co/E1QO2T99FH

— KSL (@KSLcom) October 10, 2017

The next morning, the parents awoke to realize that their son had never come home from the corn maze the previous day. They called police, who alerted the parents that their son had spent the night with DCFS.

It is not clear if there were any other circumstances that led to the parents forgetting about their 3-year-old lost in the corn maze overnight. The KSL report noted that the boy had at least one brother, but it is not clear if there were other children or potentially other caregivers who may have been looking out for the boy as well.

Police said they are investigating the Utah parents who left their 3-year-old in the corn maze overnight and there could be some charges or citations, but they have not made a determination yet.

[Featured Image by Autumn Friesen/iStock]